Yousef Abu-Taleb is an American actor. He was born in Arlington and raised in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

before moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He is known for co-starring in the role of Daniel (Danielbeast), the longest-running character in the '' lonelygirl15'' web drama, alongside Jessica Lee Rose. Since the show's finale, he has ventured into writing, producing and most notably stand-up comedy.

Early career

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

, English and American descent, Abu-Taleb was taking classes at the Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia in early 2005, when he decided to head to Los Angeles with $2,500 in his pocket to pursue his dream of becoming a movie star, despite the fact that he had no formal acting training at the time. Abu-Taleb became a member of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

in 2006 and later landed roles on Lionsgate's "Bite Me" and Showtime's "Ray Donovan."

''Lonelygirl15'' fame

While looking for acting jobs in 2006, Abu-Taleb found a

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is a privately held American company operating a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussi ...

posting for an independent film codenamed ''Children of Anchor Cove'', which later turned out to be the '' lonelygirl15'' project. Although he was older than the character of Daniel, who was written to be 15–16, he won the role and the character was rewritten to be 18. During filming, before his identity was revealed, Yousef kept a low profile, keeping to his house and wearing sunglasses when he went out. After the creators and crew came forward, he was openly interviewed by

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

and

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

. He also appeared with Jessica Lee Rose on '' Tom Green Live''. ''lonelygirl15'' won in the "biggest download" category at the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

''Big in '06'' Awards. He also did some work alongside

Carmen Electra Carmen Electra (born Tara Leigh Patrick, April 20, 1972) is an American actress, model, singer, and media personality. She began her career as a singer after moving to Minneapolis where she met Prince (musician), Prince who produced her Carm ...

in-character as Daniel for the promotional videos of '' Epic Movie'', a film that parodies a number of other epic films such as ''

The Da Vinci Code ''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is “the best-selling American novel of all time.” Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon—the first was his 2000 novel '' Angels & Demons''� ...

'', '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'', and '' Snakes on a Plane''. As of the ''lonelygirl15'' finale in August 2008, Yousef appeared in over 300 episodes, making him the longest-running character on the show. Yousef also collaborated with ''lonelygirl15'' writer-director

Glenn Rubenstein Glenn Rubenstein (born March 2, 1976) is a writer, director, and journalist based in Northern California. Journalism Rubenstein has been a columnist for the ''San Francisco Examiner'', ''Sports Illustrated'' for Kids, CNET's (now defunct) GameCen ...

to co-write the episode "Miss Me?" and Creator Miles Beckett to film the episode "Following The Helper". He also made a surprise appearance in the final episode of the lonelygirl15 sequel series, LG15: The Resistance, "12 Videos 12 Hours."

Post-YouTube career

Since leaving the show, Abu-Taleb has ventured into writing and producing. His most recent film, ''West of Hell'', is slated for release in 2018 and his first one-hour comedy special "Washed Up Youtube Star" is set for release in 2019 and depicts his life during and after his YouTube fame. He is currently working on the upcoming Neil LaBute film '' Out of the Blue''.

References

External links

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Yousef Abu-Taleb on LGPedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu-Taleb, Yousef Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male film actors American male web series actors 21st-century American male actors Muslims from Virginia Actors from Arlington County, Virginia American people of Jordanian descent American people of English descent American male comedians Comedians from Los Angeles Comedians from Virginia YouTubers from Los Angeles YouTubers from Virginia